Exodus 14:10-15:1

The Vigil of Easter | 8 April 2023 | Exodus 14:10-15:1 | Samuel D. Zumwalt | 

Exodus 14:10-15:1 English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles

¹⁰ When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. ¹¹ They said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? ¹² Is not this what we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” ¹³ And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. ¹⁴ The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” ¹⁵ The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. ¹⁶ Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. ¹⁷ And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. ¹⁸ And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.” ¹⁹ Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, ²⁰ coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night. ²¹ Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. ²² And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. ²³ The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. ²⁴ And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, ²⁵ clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.” ²⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” ²⁷ So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. ²⁸ The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, not one of them remained. ²⁹ But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. ³⁰ Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. ³¹ Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses. 15 Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

HIS GLORIOUS TRIUMPH

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

What the LORD God did for His people in Egypt, the LORD God did for all people at Golgotha. It is the same LORD God who rescued His people from slavery in Egypt and destroyed Israel’s foes in the Red Sea, that rescued all people from slavery on the cross and still destroys God’s peoples’ foes in the baptismal font. The LORD God is not a different God in the Old Testament than the LORD God in the New. Christians read what we call the Old Testament differently than those who call it the Hebrew Bible. The New Testament is a commentary on the Old. The LORD Jesus, God’s Son in human flesh, teaches us to read the Old Testament through Him and specifically through His saving death on the cross and His rising from the dead (cf. Luke 24;13ff.).

Those who call themselves Christians and yet read the Old Testament as if it were a standalone work do not read the Bible correctly. They do not know who Jesus is or even who the LORD God is. Christianity is not Judaism for Gentiles. Christianity is the salvation of the whole world apart from skin color, ethnicity, language or country of origin, socioeconomic status, sex, whomever a person proudly thinks he or she is in his or her conceit, or whom a person desires by fallen nature and not by God’s design. The LORD Jesus, God in human flesh, is the Passover Lamb whose blood shed on the cross takes away the sin of the world. If you are baptized into His saving death and glorious resurrection, you have been washed in the Blood of the Lamb. You are God’s child through no effort or merit of your own. The LORD has triumphed gloriously. If you have been baptized into His saving death and glorious resurrection, your old Adam or old Eve, the old sinner in you has been drowned. You are not your own. You have been rescued from slavery to sin, death, and Satan, the LORD God has done it. He has triumphed gloriously.

If we were to celebrate the Easter Vigil as originally envisioned, we would gather after sundown, preferably at a later hour, we would light a fire outside in the darkness, then, lighting first the Paschal candle and then the candles of the congregation, we would process together into the nave. We would read twelve lessons from the Old Testament telling the story of salvation from creation through the exodus to the promise of the Suffering Servant, and the prophetic preparation for the Messiah. These would be interspersed by hymns. Then, we would baptize those adolescents and adults who had been prepared for, at least, the six weeks of Lent, but possibly longer. We would renew our baptismal vows as they took theirs, and, then, we would have the first celebration of the resurrection of our LORD Jesus Christ. The service would last for hours, because this is the heart of what it means to be Christians and this is Who the LORD God is. If anyone doesn’t like the worship of the Triune God, does he really want to be with Him forever?

The biblical story begins with creation, continues with the rebellion in the Garden and the loss of Paradise, the destruction by flood of all but Noah and his family, the scattering of those who wanted to make a name for themselves at Babel, the call of Abram and Sarai and God’s promise to them of a great nation who would be a blessing to all. God spares Isaac, chooses Jacob and renames him Israel, blesses the world through Joseph, rescues His people from slavery in Egypt, delivers them from death by the blood of the Passover lamb, brings them safely through the Red Sea and destroys Pharaoh’s army, makes covenant with them by grace at Sinai, gives them the Promised Land, delivers them from their enemies, chooses David to unite the tribes, to make Jerusalem the place where His Name dwells, sends the prophets to warn kings and people that He will allow them to have their own way to their detriment, gives Elijah the victory over the 400 prophets of Baal, allows Israel and Judah to be conquered and to lose the land, allows the destruction of Jerusalem and the loss of the Ark of the Covenant, allows Judah to be in exile in Babylon, restores them to the land and allows them to rebuild the Temple, sends prophets until His people no longer have ears, and prepares the way for the Messiah, Jesus, truly God and truly human, who is the fulfillment of God’s unconditional promises to Abraham and to David. At the right time, God’s Son Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, lived the obedient life none of us can live and died the innocent death none of us can die, because He is the Passover Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Tonight, we celebrate His glorious triumph on the cross. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The Christian story is not the story of a God who turns a blind eye to rebellion against Him. The LORD Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, yes. But remember that though the LORD God delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt, brought them safely through the water, destroyed Pharaoh’s chariots and soldiers, and made covenant with Israel by grace at Mt. Sinai, nevertheless, the entire generation that He brought out of bondage in Egypt died in the wilderness for their faithlessness – except for Joshua and Caleb. All of those born in Egypt except for Joshua and Caleb never got to go to the Promised Land including Moses!

The LORD Jesus has triumphed gloriously, and His death on the cross is big enough to save everyone who has ever lived. Those baptized into His saving death and glorious resurrection are indeed the children of God, marked with the cross of Christ, and sealed with the Holy Spirit forever; however, Holy Baptism is not magic. It is a way of life, daily dying to sin, daily drowning the old Adam or old Eve, and daily rising to a new life in which the LORD Jesus now dwells in us. We are not our own. Our Baptism into Christ is not affirmation. Our Baptism into Christ is the promise that sin, death, and Satan no longer have the last word. At the last, sin in us will be no more. At the last, death in us will be no more. At the last, Satan himself will be silenced and will be forced to confess that Jesus Christ is LORD to the glory of God the Father. This is the story that the Holy Spirit summons us through the Gospel to trust is true for us.

So, then, the LORD’s Supper is not evangelism. It is the real presence of Jesus, the Bread of Life, given in the wilderness of this world to the children of God and not to the unbaptized. When we eat and drink the Body of Christ and His most precious Blood in the Host and Cup, we receive Jesus always, actually, and apart from our belief or unbelief, because He has promised to be there. Even as Moses approached the holy mountain with fear and trembling, so we ought ever to come confessing our sins and confessing our need for the Savior, the LORD Jesus.

He has triumphed gloriously. Never, never forget that if you are warm and breathing, you need the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. He has triumphed gloriously that we may be His own. Trust His promise is true for you. And how can we know? Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

©Samuel David Zumwalt, STS

   szumwalt@bellsouth.net

   St. Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church

   Wilmington, North Carolina USA